WILSON AUDIO AUTOBIOGRAPHY – COMING SOON AT TSE

This E-News is about the new speaker from Wilson Audio. The model name is Autobiography. The name may seem strange at first. It is a reference to the idea that it is the culmination of 50 years of work by the whole Wilson Audio family (team). The speaker’s primary designer is Daryl Wilson. His work is a continuation of the work of his father, David Wilson. David’s work culminated in the WAMM. The Autobiography is the new top-of-the-line speaker from Wilson Audio. This speaker was designed for a purpose, not a price. The purpose is the best ability to reproduce music that Wilson can do at this time. The price turned out to be $788,000 for a pair.

Recently, The Sound Environments’ own Charles Santmire and Doug Robinson ventured to Provo, Utah to hear Autobiography and learn what this ambitious new speaker is all about.

Doug Robinson’s reaction to first hearing of the Autobiography:

Have you ever left a movie and found yourself thinking about it, not being able to get it out of your mind because it affected you powerfully in some way?

The Wilson Autobiography speakers had that effect on me.

TSE founder Charlie Santmire and I visited Provo, Utah to hear the Autobiography and visit with designer Daryl Wilson just a few days ago. Wilson is one of high-end audio’s first companies, with 52 years of continuous family ownership. Daryl took over the design leadership from his father a few years ago and has developed a string of praised and highly successful products.

The Autobiography was not named to represent Daryl’s life work, which is probably only beginning, but to show where 52 years of constant innovation and improvement can lead. The product has all-new drivers (if you count a tweeter with a new rear chamber as new), a commitment to being able to tune the driver launch for no delay between them, and further evolve the rigidity of the driver mounts, and account for reductions in vibration at every possible point in the speaker.

This is not a speaker made to a price point; it’s a speaker made to show what’s possible if every lesson learned in 52 years is properly incorporated. There are 1,800 parts in the Autobiography, an unusually high count for a loudspeaker, but when you see it, you’ll understand why. The level of detail is extraordinary.

We listened to Daryl Wilson, who systematically demonstrated to us how the speaker performed with different music, in different frequency ranges, and in the time domain. But almost immediately, all we heard was music. Charlie mentioned a female vocal cut we listened to when instead of critiquing the speaker, he found himself critiquing the vocal performance. The musical connection with this loudspeaker is off the charts! I could go on and on about what we heard, but since we’ll have a pair for our customers to hear, it’s better to wait and give you that experience. Think fall 2026. These things take time to make.

The factory tour reinforced Wilson’s close attention to detail and care about the quality and consistency of what their customers receive. They make their own capacitors to the exact values needed for the crossover. Not plus or minus 10%, or 5%, the exact value. Again, you probably don’t want to read hundreds of words describing the Wilson factory, but believe me when I say their speakers are made with care and passion.

Why would the Sound Environment bring in this very expensive speaker when so few of our customers can afford them?

1. They are a paradigm-shifting product; everyone should hear that.
2. Wilson has always provided their newest speaker with their very latest and best technology

(example: Sabrina V). Technologies will trickle down for years from this speaker.

3. They will be in our Inspiration Music Room, which tries to represent what’s possible in music reproduction.

I left Provo thinking a lot about the Autobiography and music in general. When I got home, I listened to the music we heard in Provo again to make sure of what I had experienced and confirmed to my satisfaction that the Autobiography is a very special and exciting product.

Whether it’s the best, whether it leaves you with unforgettable memories after you hear it remains to be seen (or heard). There will be events in the future (probably late 2026 and early 2027), don’t miss them!

Charlie Santmire’s reaction to first hearing of the Autobiography:

The Autobiography is Daryl Wilson’s magnum opus, at least to date. The Autobiography was built on the work that his father, David Wilson, did in developing his magnum opus, the WAMM. The whole Wilson team has taken part in the development and execution of the Autobiography. It takes a team.

We learned when we were there that Wilson Audio is a family with 54 members. All are proud of what they do. All support each other. All are justifiably proud to be a member of that family. As a fully committed dealer, we are equally proud to be a member of that family. What does that mean? Wilson Audio is not just another brand that we carry. Wilson Audio has many dealers in this country, and I believe that most of those dealers treat Wilson with respect and demonstrate the various models relatively well. We demonstrate them in systems and in rooms with our proprietary SRI setup methodology to the very best of our ability. We are one of 11 dealers in the country that will demonstrate Autobiography. We will demonstrate them in a system that is without peer, with exacting setup that we believe is also without peer. We are prepared to deliver, set up with our exacting methodology, and maintain the Autobiography anywhere in the USA.

We demonstrate in our three locations, Chronosonic XVX, Subsonic, Sasha V, The WATT/Puppy, Sabrina V, and will soon have Autobiography. These speakers cover a price range of $28,500 a pair to $788,000 a pair.